Is the Weibo watermark a third-party watermark?

Moving the discussion here from post #6079361.

Arcana55 said:

@gsoares, is the weibo watermark not a third-party watermark?

gsoares said:

No, because weibo is not a third party here

Weibo is not the artist (first party), nor did it commission, contract or employ the artist (second party). So what is it? Am I misunderstanding the concept? That artists willingly upload there doesn't change the fact the website is what is modifying the image, not the artist.

In theory, it could be that Weibo mandates that all who upload there must insert a Weibo watermark themselves beforehand, but that seems technically difficult or impossible to enforce, and highly unlikely.

You're misunderstanding the idea of "third-party" and "second-party" here. Weibo would be a second party in this case, since the artist uploaded it there. Third-party watermark is for ones completely unrelated to the artist. Do note that third-party watermarks are against the rules; it would be rather silly to disallow Weibo uploads entirely.

Whether to insert a watermark is chosen by Sina Weibo user, if the uploader is not a third-party account, then the watermark is not a third-party watermark.

Ok I think I understand now. I was thinking second-party meant commissioners or employers, but I guess that's incorrect.

If the artist choses to put the watermark in the image then surely its a first party watermark i.e. a watermark.